Gunita Singh, Jamaal Glenn join LION Publishers Board of Directors

The Board of Directors of LION Publishers grew by two last week as the body voted to unanimously approve Gunita Singh and Jamaal Glenn.

Gunita, who is the 2020/2021 Jack Nelson/Dow Jones Foundation Legal Fellow for the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, does litigation, policy, and amicus work, primarily around state and federal freedom of information laws, while also helping reporters and news organizations with records requests. She received her J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center. During law school, she interned at the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence and the District of Columbia Office of Police Complaints. She earned her undergraduate degree at Boston University where she studied political science and graduated magna cum laude.

“I am thrilled to be joining LION’s board which is filled with driven, passionate, talented individuals geared toward creating a landscape that allows local, independent publishers of news to thrive,” Gunita says. “Local news is the bedrock of communities across the nation, so it’s a real joy to play a small role in helping to enable LION’s vision.”

Jamaal is a director at Schmidt Futures, where he leads entrepreneurship programs and for-profit venture investments. He’s also an adjunct professor at New York University, where he teaches graduate and executive education courses on finance, marketing, and entrepreneurship. Jamaal is also the founder of Glenn Media Group, a boutique consulting firm with clients that include Google, Harvard University, and the City of New York.

Previously, Jamaal has been an investor and executive at Alumni Ventures Group, a global venture capital firm; First Look Media, the media company founded by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar; and Inneractive, a venture-backed tech startup that was acquired in 2016. He also founded and sold Politiconomist.com and Capitolista.com to The Economist Group, and worked at Google and J.P. Morgan. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a New Urban Progress Fellow with Das Progressive Zentrum, a German think tank.

Jamaal received an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, an MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and undergraduate degrees in finance and journalism from the University of Missouri.

“I’m absolutely thrilled to join LION’s board. As a former independent online media entrepreneur, LION’s mission is personal to me. Had LION been around when I was building a media business, I would have been first in line for membership. But more than that, it has become abundantly clear that the threats to independent journalism represent existential threats to our democracy,” Jamaal says. “I can’t think of an organization doing more important work at this time. I can’t wait to get to work.”

The approval gives LION Publishers its eleventh and twelfth Board members; our bylaws allow for up to 15 members. Gunita and Jamaal were recommended by the Board Development Committee, chaired by Tracie Powell.